Winners & Losers: MLL Action, N.Y Playoffs

The NCAA season is done, and with summer, our interests scatter within the lacrosse world. Some of us are closely following high school playoff action in the few states still sorting out their champions. Others begin scouring the land for the next great recruits. Another group turns its gaze from NCAA action to MLL play. And a few well-connected folks keep tabs on the underlying stories of rule changes and coaching turnover.

So with no banner event for us all to focus on this week, we went around the Inside Lacrosse wheel of expertise to get a feel for who is soaring and who is struggling across the broad spectrum that is the lacrosse world.

WINNER:

Zach BaboMLL Waiver Wire picks and teams - As evidenced by good traffic numbers on our site, there was a decent amount of buzz around the MLL Waiver Wire this week, with six teams snagging 12 players during the process. With the NCAA game still being the pinnacle of the sport in terms of media coverage and fan interest (I'll leave the play debate out of it), the pro game gets some good juice by highlighting the activities of recent NCAA players. With how hard it is to break into the league, it's smart to make the most of out what the rookies do. Unfortunately waiver acquisitions were not eligible to play this week, so let's hope this buzz stays alive into this coming weekend when we hopefully see some of these new guys - most notably NCAA Tournament hero Eric Lusby, going from the Greyhounds to the Charlotte Hounds - make their debuts.

Geoff Shannon:Conestoga High School - The Pioneers topped off a magical season, which riding the UA/IL rankings at No. 1 for several weeks this spring, with a 10-7 victory over La Salle College (Pa.) in this year's PIAA championships. Conestoga overcame a small rough stretch with losses against current No. 1Garden City (N.Y.) and Canada's Hill Academy (Ont.) and focused up during the state playoffs to finish 23-3 with the title. Four of those players will participate in the Under Armour All-American game this summer. Coach Brian Samson deserves special credit for building a national schedule, which included an upset win against Calvert Hall (Md.) earlier in the year.

Danielle Bernstein (ILWomen.com)Maryland — I was at Lax Inceptionover the weekend and had the opportunity to get more familiar with the 2014 class, which is really talented. It was also great to see some more 2013 player — some I had seen before and some I had not. Maryland has some great players committed in their next two classes. Taylor Hensh, who really stood out playing for M&D this weekend, is a great player who fits in well with the Terps' style of play. Megan Whittle, who I have written about a couple times while covering McDonogh this year, is going to be great. The rich get richer in College Park.

Casey Vock:Long Island high school lacrosse - With West Islip, Garden City and Shoreham-Wading River taking New York State's Class A, B and C titles, respectively, this weekend was a spectacular showing (and most definitely a win) for Long Island high school lacrosse — Strong Island, a term that feels appropriate here after watching three teams as polished and disciplined as any I'd seen all season, especially West Islip and Garden City, squads just bursting with talented recruits. The sweep was Long Island's first since the 2006 season, and it cemented Suffolk and Nassau counties as Kings of High School Lacrosse in New York — at least until next year. And in a win for John Tillman and the Maryland Terps' recruiting efforts, Shoreham-Wading River junior Tim Rotanz had one of the most impressive individual performances of the championships, putting the Wildcats on his back after Notre Dame-bound senior middie Trevor Brosco was put out of the game early with a concussion. Rotanz, playing for his father/coach Tom, finished with a dominant five-goal, two-assist performance, looking head and shoulders above most other players on the field Saturday. He's my top player on Long Island for 2013, and the kid I see as the most college-ready of all the elite offensive players in the Class of 2013.

John Jiloty:Bayhawks' Offense - I was at the Charlotte-Chesapeake game in Annapolis on Saturday night. Big winner was Chesapeake's offense. For a team that features middies as three of its Top 5 scorers (Kyle Dixon, Steven Brooks and Michael Kimmel) on the season through six games, it was a good sign for the Bayhawks that attackmen Drew Westervelt (4, 1), John Grant Jr (2G) and Danny Glading (1G) stepped up against the Hounds. If Chesapeake can continue to get that kind of production from its attack, while still leaning on its midfield, it will definitely be a playoff team in August. They've also gotten nice work from rookie Matt Mackrides (listed at attack but played midfield Saturday): three goals in his first two games.

Matt Kinnear:Long Island Lizards - First, I'll agree with Zach's point. There was MLL coverage in big daily newspapers this week, and that's great news for the league.

The big winner this weekend, though, was the Long Island Lizards. After a sluggish start, Long Island has won three in a row. They have great pieces that are working together well. Beating the expansion franchises was expected: This weekend's win against the Boston Cannons elevated them into a legit contender.

Terry Foy:Jen McKim - The writer of the Boston Globe story "Lacrosse is creating a retail splash" (also known as "Short for 'Lacrosse Brothers'") received the warm embrace of the lacrosse community after her stunning portrayal of the Lax Bro movement hit newsstands. She got blogged by Gawker, Deadspin, Grantland and, as far as I can tell, picked up like 50 Twitter followers.

LOSERS

Zach Babo:The hot/cold nature of the MLL - During the past few years I have become a bigger and bigger fan of the outdoor pro game, independent of any comparison to NCAA or anything like that. The players are just good, the pace is pretty exciting and produces a lot of end-to-end action, and the looser feel can lend itself to some pretty entertaining stuff. The problem is all those things can also combine to a perfectly boring storm, as evidenced in Chesapeake (I was there) and Denver. Despite the potential parity of talent around the league, some teams are just built better than others and become greater than the sum of their parts. The lack or practice doesn't help cohesion, and when teams or units struggle, it is painfully clear. After Chesapeake jumped out to an early 7-1 lead I feared their game with Charlotte was over, not because a six-goal deficit is hard to overcome, because it isn't in this league, but because Charlotte just looked so out of sorts, particularly on offense. As a fan watching, if you can tell your team is just not clicking, it is pretty easy to tune out. Hopefully the next game is the shootout the league sells itself as.

Geoff Shannon:Connecticut High School Lacrosse Coaches Association - On Sunday the 2012 Connecticut regional All-Americans, Player of the Year and Team of the Year recipients were announced, and, shockingly, Darien (Conn.)'s Case Matheis was not named the state's Player of the Year. Inside Lacrosse's current No. 2 High School senior, Matheis broke Darien's all-time points and assists record this season while leading his team to a 20-2 record and Class M championship. This year's selected POY, Fairfield Prep middie Matt Brophy, also had an excellent year, leading his team to Class L title and a 19-4 record. This should have been Matheis' award though, and I'm definitely surprised the coaches went in another direction.

Danielle Bernstein (ILWomen.com)Expired sunscreen — I got fried on Saturday at Lax Inception and certainly not for a lack of trying to protect myself. Turns out the sunscreen I used expired in 2011. So a tip to anyone reading who might be taking in some rays in the near future — check the date on your sunblock!

Casey Vock:Any recruiters not in attendance for the NY State high school lacrosse championships - On Saturday in Middletown, New York, six teams played some of the best high school lacrosse I've seen all season. I was a bit surprised not to see more recruiters there, and I don't think any program could convince me that they didn't need to attend the trio of games and/or justify not being there. On top of the popular, already-committed players, each team — West Islip, Ithaca, Garden City, Irondequoit, Shoreham-Wading River and Penn Yan — has emerging and still under the-radar type recruits, and it was all on display for the state championships Saturday. I saw a handful of players — definitely fit and skilled enough for Division II or Division III play — scooped up by an NJCAA coach I know. In doing a little undercover work, it was simply because they were in a position to make a quick decision, and they got some love from him, so he capitalized on a trip to Middletown. It was easy pickings, as the number of recruiters in attendance felt and appeared low to me, especially considering the presence of the two best teams in the country in West Islip and Garden City — and four more not all that far behind them. The college coaches who were in attendance were wise to be there, and they got a nice look at a bunch of rising players destined to be on IL's Young Gun rankings in coming seasons, as well as dibs on late-blooming, graduating seniors who need a home. Bravo to those coaches for putting in the work. It's bound to pay off.

John Jiloty:Charlotte's goalie corps - This was the second-straight game in which the Hounds had to yank their starter after the first quarter. Last week, rookie Mark Manos let in eight goals and made five saves in the first quarter against Hamilton, leaving with the Hounds facing an 8-1 deficit. This week, Joe Marra made three saves and let in seven goals in the first quarter and left with Charlotte down 7-1. Good news is Adam Ghitelman has been great in relief both weeks: 14 saves and 10 goals allowed against Hamilton, and 14 saves and eight goals against at Chesapeake. Looks like Charlotte might have found its starting goalie, though they might be wise to look to Chesapeake on a trade (Joey Kemp, TC DiBartolo, Kip Turner, rookie Tyler Fiorito).

Matt Kinnear:The expansion teams - It looks like the teams are further away than we thought. Charlotte has struggled despite a roster that "looks" good. Ohio needs to re-think its strategy. I'll spare too many details and instead refer you to Quint's column this week. Read the last paragraph. Too harsh, or just right?

Terry Foy:Lacrosse fans that overreacted to the Globe story - Lacrosse is a niche sport, which means it's relatively small in terms of fan numbers, which means there are a lot of people in the U.S. who don't like lacrosse. For them, the sport is an easy punchline. That's fine; it's not a new phenomenon, and I don't think it's worth the collective energy to get worked up every time a story comes along that reinforces the sport's negative stereotype. McKim's story was not a great representation of lacrosse fans and players at large, but her points had at least a root in truth, and the shelf-life of that story — or any story that calls out the entitled and bad people stereotype — is very short. What'll have a longer impact? Being a good person. @-ing F bombs on Twitter to the writer of a trend piece aimed at a mainstream readership isn't going to impact the way people view lacrosse players and fans nearly as much as being good to the non-lacrosse folks we collectively come in contact with every day.